Man’s Nafs

Maulana Ya’qub Nanotwi (RA), the teacher of Hakeem ul Ummah Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (RA) once took a piece of paper and said, “Fold it to one side.” Then he said, “Straighten it,” but it didn’t straighten out. It kept bending towards one side. The way to straighten it is to fold it towards the opposite direction. He then said, “The nafs (self) is also bent towards sin. If it is brought to the normal level, it will not straighten out. It will still incline towards evil. So, incline in the opposite direction and have it leave even those things which are otherwise permissible. When it is made to do so, it will now come to the normal level and it will be able to refrain from sin. Our nafs has become accustomed to sin.”